Game board



June 27, 1961- J, PP 2,990,181

v. GAME BOARD Filed Feb. 10, 1958 "III'I'IIIIA [Illlr r, I

INVENTOR. John E. Lippold BY WHITEHEAD, VOGL 8 LOWE ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,990,181 GAME BOARD John E. Lippold, 605 S. 14th St., Laramie, Wyo. Filed Feb. 10, 1958, Ser. No. 714,201 1 Claim. (Cl. 273-134) This invention relates to game-board games and more particularly to game-board games of the type that involve progressive movement of players along a designated course to attain a goal. A primary object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved game board and play pieces therefor, whereon the players engage in a progressive, competitive movement of the game pieces along a designated course and in a manner which combines the elements of adroitness, skill, luck,- and knowledge of the player.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved game board and play pieces therefor which permit a competitive, progressive play in an environment that sets forth educational and informative subject matter.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved game board and play pieces therefor which are representative of travel in our solar system and are based upon our present knowledge of the system, although the game is played in a fanciful manner.

A further object of the invention is to provide an educational game board and play pieces therefor which bring to the players attention the workings of the solar system, although played in an entertaining, fanciful manner according to simple, easy-to-play rules.

Yet other objects of the invention are to provide a novel and improved game board and play pieces therefor which are a neat, compact, low-cost unit adapted for sale by various types of outlets and stores.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, all of which more fully hereinafter appear, my invention comprises certain novel and improved constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts and elements, as hereinafter described and as defined in the appended claims and illustrated in a preferred embodiment in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the game fully assembled for play with certain play pieces set thereon as they might be positioned during play.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of the central portion of the game board and the play piece mounted thereon, as viewed from the indicated arrow 2-2 at FIG. 1 but on an enlarged scale.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional plan of the central portion of the game board as viewed from the indicated line 33 at FIG. 2.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of another portion of the game board with play pieces mounted thereon, as viewed from the indicated line 44 at FIG. 1 but on an enlarged scale.

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation view of one of the play pieces per se, as illustrated at FIG. 4 but on a fur ther enlarged scale.

The demonstration that mankind is able to reach beyond the earth and into outer space has excited the imagination of everyone and has brought about much inquiry as to the nature of outer space and especially to the workings of our own solar system. The technical data and information about the solar system is too complex and difficult for the layman to understand and the facts known about the system must be presented to him in a simple fashion. The best way for a layman to fully appreciate and be aware of some of the phenomena within our solar system is to provide him with a simple, pleasant method of fact association, such as in a game. With a game, he may easily assimilate the pertinent facts and ice 2 data relating to the solar system and thereby broaden his concept of the same.

With such in view, the present invention was conceived and developed and comprises, in essence, a game board and play pieces associated therewith representativeof the: solar system, which set forth the component planets as arranged in their proper order about the sun. They are,

depicted as being interconnected by a spiral-shaped pathway for such a pathway would be a desirable course to follow if a space traveler were moving from one planet to the other and the object of the game is to depict space movement by the players from one planet to the other.. Referring more particularly to the drawing, this game is conveniently adapted to be played upon a rectangular board 10 which may be folded if desired for compact packaging or storing in a box in convenient manner. The face of the board '10 presented for play represents the solar system which may be depicted by a boundaryv The various planets 13 are located at selected positions along a spiral pathway 14- which extends from the planet Mercury, the closest to the sun, and terminates at the planet Pluto at the outer edge of the circular system. This spiral pathway 14 conveniently extends through two complete revolutions about the sun and the individual planets may be located thereon according to any se -f lected spacing. The terminal planets, however, Mercury and Pluto, are preferably located along a common ray from the sun and this ray forms an interconnecting or return path 15 from Pluto to Mercury whichtraverses the spiral path 14. A selected number of radially disposed paths 16 extend from the sun in a spaced array about the sunand these intercepting paths can be used to represent the gravitational effect which would pull a space traveler into the sun if he were to lose control of .his ship. These intercepting paths 16 may, therefore, be used as hazards in playing the game.

This game is played with a number of fixed pieces, representing the planets, as hereinafter described, and moving pieces representing rockets or space ships 17, and the object of the game is to set up a play which constitutes movement of the space ships 17 from one planet 13 to another along the path 14. The rules of the game may be simple and it is contemplated that these rules may be varied in several different ways to satisfy the desires of different players without materially altering the structure of the game board and play pieces.

The space ships 17 are formed as cylindrical miniature representations of rockets, or the like, and each space ship 17 includes a peg 18 at its base so that it may be mounted in suitable sockets in the board 10 and on the planets 13, as hereinafter described.

The spiral pathway 14 is conveniently divided into a series of steps or progressive positions represented by two lanes of spaced sockets 19 which are adapted to receive the pegs 18 of the space ship 17. The return path 15 is likewise provided with a lane of such sockets 19, and each of the intercepting paths is provided with a single lane of such spaced sockets.

Each planet 13 is represented by a hemispherical body which sets upon the face of the game board and includes a suitable stud 20 which fits snugly into a socket or orifice 21 in the game board to hold each planet securely in position upon the game board. The hemispherical surface of the planet may be marked, colored, or designated in any desirable manner and it also includes a plurality of sockets 19' to receive and hold the base pegs 18 of Patented June 27, 1961.;

3 a space ships 17 which may light upon the planets during the course of a game.

The hemispherical sun 12 is formed as a hollow, transparent unit with a circular base 22 which includes a depending stud 20' that is adapted to he rotatably mounted in an orifice 21' at the center of the board. The body of the sun 12 is formed as a transparent shell 23 which upstands from the base 22 and the interior of the sun conveniently contains dice 24 or similar means which indicate variable quantities by laws of chance and Which may be used in the play of the game. The floor of the cavity within the sun is undulated as by forming radial ridges 25 on the base 22 in order to effect erratic tumbling of the dice. It follows that a simple rotation or spin of the sun will tumble and roll the dice to turn up various number combinations, according to the rules of chance, which may be usedfor the play.

The corners of the rectangular game board outside the boundary circle 11 may be used to set forth instructions of play and there may be sockets 19" at these corners and alongside selected planets to provide for holding extra play pieces and providing home base stalls for the space ships 17 of the various players.

' It is possible to play this game in several ways and one general manner of play is to have one or more players select a home base planet and move a selected number of space ships from planet to planet and back again, the first player completing such movements winning the game.

In play, the space ships are moved according to the roll of the dice in the sun, advancing around the spiral pathway in positions proportional to the number combinations turned up by the dice. The rules may be complicated to permit capture of space ships, to locate points of safety, such as on the planets, and to set up hazards, such as at the intercepting paths 16 which lead into the sun. The rules may be further complicated by recognizing the different densities of the planets and setting up 'pena-lties should a player land on a planet, which are proportional to the gravitational pull of the particular planet, since the heavier planets would require more fuel from the rocket to get away from them.

While I have now described my invention in considerable detail, it is obvious that others skilled in the art can devise alternate and equivalent constructions which are within the scope and spirit of my invention, and hence I desire that my invention be limited not by the illustrations and constructions described, but only by the proper scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

In combination with a game board having a spirally marked pathway on the surface thereof constituting a series of successive steps and including a plurality'of stations on the board along the pathway representing the planets in the solar system, a plurality of game pieces representing rocket ships and a game piece holding means at each step on the pathway andv at each planet station, adapted to hold the pieces upon the board, a hemispherical body rotatably mounted upon the board at the center of the spiral representing the sun and including a base portion, a transparent hemispherical shell and a die therein, said base portion having an undulated floor surface within the shell adapted to facilitate tumbling of the die responsive to rotation of the hemisphere.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 834,130 Heron Oct. 23, 1906 922,897 Heydon May 25, 1909 982,747 Schultze Jan. 24, 1911 1,357,109 Nicholas Oct. 26, 1920 1,517,847 Llera Dec. 2, 1924 1,538,134 Muir May v19, 1925 1,572,254 Tomes Feb. 9, 1926 2,442,194 Briscoe May 25, 1948 2,657,057 Chapin Oct. 27, 1953 2,702,709 Woolrich Feb. 22, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 452,539 France Mar. 8, 1913 16,993 France Mar. 18, 1913 (Addition to No. 452,539) 1 601,299 Germany Aug. 18, 1934 

